Ohio Makes Move to Become Right-to-Work State

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine Wednesday certified a petition for a constitutional amendment that would make Ohio a right-to-work state, the Columbus Dispatch reported. Amendment supporters gathered 1,000 signatures and submitted a summary of the measure, which — if approved — will prohibit mandatory participation in a union or payment of union-related fees as a condition of employment.

The proposal’s backers — primarily tea party supporters — must next go to the Ohio Ballot Board before it can seek the roughly 386,000 signatures needed to get the measure on the November ballot.

DeWine’s announcement came the same day that neighboring Indiana became the 23rd state, and the first Rust Belt state, to pass a right-to-work law. Other states that have approved the measure are primarily in the South and the Rocky Mountain regions.

Republican gains in the 2010 elections prompted legislation in many states, including Ohio, aimed at restricting bargaining rights for government workers’ unions.

Voters last fall rejected an Ohio law that placed restrictions on public-employee unions, leading tea party supporters to start their petition efforts for a right-to-work law.